Solar powered display devices such as those for use as signs and street number indicators are well known. Examples of such solar powered display devices are provided in U.S. Pat. No. 4,903,172, issued on Feb. 20, 1990 to Schoniger et al. and entitled DISPLAY CONSTRUCTION; U.S. Pat. No. 4,994,941, issued on Feb. 19, 1991 to Wen and entitled SIGN OF CHARACTER AND FIGURE; U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,190, issued on Apr. 16, 1991 to Shyu and entitled SOLARHOUSE-NUMBER INDICATING DEVICE; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,101,329, issued on Mar. 31, 1992 to Doyle and entitled REALTY SIGN LIGHTING AND DISPLAY ASSEMBLY.
Each of these patents disclose the use of a solar panel to collect sunlight and to convert the sunlight into electrical power for illuminating a desired display. A battery is used to store the electrical power provided by the solar panel so as to facilitate operation of the illumination means in the absence of sunlight, i.e., after dark, during overcast conditions, etc. Various illumination means including LEDs, incandescent lamps, and fluorescent lamps are disclosed.
Both U.S. Pat. No. 4,903,172 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,190 accommodate the use of interchangeable display indicia, such as those used to indicate house numbers, for example.
The use of such a solar powered display device to illuminate house numbers, for example, provides several advantages inherent to such solar powered display devices. Thus, the need for external wiring is eliminated. Also, frequent battery replacement is likewise eliminated. Various different indicia, i.e., different street numbers, may be utilized in conjunction with such contemporary solar powered display devices, thus increasing their flexibility and usefulness.
However, such contemporary solar powered display devices possess certain deficiencies which detract from their success in the marketplace. For example, contemporary solar power display devices do not readily accommodate different sizes of displays. The use of number plates allows a user to easily configure street number signs, for example, so as to display the desired number. This is accomplished by arranging the pre-printed number plates in the desired sequence and installing them within the display device. However, contemporary street number displays only accommodate a predetermined number of individual number plates, thereby limiting the number of digits which may be displayed.
Thus, one problem frequently encountered in the use of such contemporary devices is their inability to be utilized with display indicia, i.e., number plates, of different sizes so as to accommodate house numbers having varying numbers of digits. As will be recognized by one skilled in the art, the more digits contained in a particular house number, the smaller, i.e., thinner, each digit must be so as to fit within a given display device. Thus, each digit of a five-digit house number must be considerably smaller than each digit of a four-digit house number, if both house numbers are to be displayed with the same device.
In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to provide a solar powered display device having interchangeable indicia formed upon a plurality of plates, wherein the size of the plates utilized may be varied by the user, as desired, to facilitate the display of various different numbers of plates.